Pakistan Property & Real Estate News

Islamabad: CDA to build overhead bridge at G-11

Islamabad: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) would construct an overhead bridge in Sector G-11/3. An official of CDA told APP here on Monday that CDA is committed to resolve the problems of the people and provide safe passage and crossing points to the pedestrians. He said that the construction of car parking area in Sector G-7 and repairing of footpaths in G-8 will also take place soon.

Karachi: Construction of Signal-Free Corridor-III

The city government has started work on the construction of Signal Free Corridor-III, and the construction of Preedy Street and four flyovers at this corridor will be completed within the next four months, he added.

Earlier, the affected handed over the keys of their houses to city government. Families settled in the area before 1947 would get a 120 sq. yards plot each, while those who settled in the area after 1947 would get 80 sq. yards plot each. Shopkeepers will be provided with 20 sq. yards plot each.

The two-track, which will stretch from Mazar-e-Quaid to Saddar, will be completed within four months as part of Signal Free Corridor-III. Besides the shifting of people and razing of structures, the construction of Preedy Street was also started by the city government.

Speaking at the occasion, the city Nazim said that the affected were being resettled at a place where they would have all basic facilities, including water and sewerage. He clarified that the proposed land for Treatment Plant-II has not been disturbed, and the space has been secured for next hundred years.

Paying tribute to the affected of Preedy Street, he said that these people, who were the voters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), had voluntarily and in the larger interest of the city agreed to leave their homes where they had been living since the past 60 years.

Mustafa Kamal thanked Sindh Minister for Local Government, Agha Siraj Durrani, and expressed hope that the Sindh government would continue patronizing the projects of city government.

No Parking For Jumeirah Beach Residence Defaulters

Residents of Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) are being turned away from parking in their apartments if they have not paid the hiked maintenance fees. The property management company, Salwan, has told residents that they need an access card to use the facilities. However, the card is only being given to owners who have paid service charges hiked by 129 per cent. They are late in giving these cards anyway, said Nikki, a resident of Rimal building in JBR. These access cards were never supposed to be given on the condition that we have paid hiked fees. Salwan is stopping people from parking in the Shams area if they have not paid these fees. We haven’t been affected yet but there’s no reason why they won’t roll it out to every building. Nikki, who asked that her surname be withheld, said that she had attempted to pay maintenance fees at the original rate prior to the hike two weeks ago. She said that her cheque was rejected and she was asked to pay the full amount.

In November last year, Salwan announced to residents that they would need to pay Dh21.75 per square foot in maintenance fees rather than Dh9.5 per square foot. However, last week the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) announced a freeze on maintenance fee hikes by property management companies. Under new law, a budget for maintenance charges will now be calculated by Rera under a formula, rather than by the developers. The budget will then be adjusted by the Owners Associations registered with Rera. Spokesperson for Salwan announced that they are considering lowering the service charges. “We are working on a number of re-negotiations relating to cleaning and utilities to ensure service charges in JBR would be reduced,” the spokesperson said. However, chairman of the Owner’s Association, Hamid Hamri, expressed doubt over the potential reduction. “If it is a reduction from the base rate of Dh9.5, that will be a victory, he said. “If it is a reduction from anything higher than that then we are still paying too much.

Lahore: LDA razes 70 huts in Johar Town

Lahore: STAFF of the Estate Management Directorate and Town Planning Wing of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) removed some 70 huts in R-2 block Johar Town and retrieved 21plots from illegal dwellers on Wednesday.

The total cost of these plots, each measuring five marlas and bearing numbers from 444 to 455 and 527 to 536, was worth millions of rupees.

The Lahore Development Authority’s anti-encroachment drive is going on in its scheme area and utility area of private housing schemes with a view to purging these vicinities of illegal structures and other disorders that create hurdles in pedestrians’ movement, smooth flow of traffic as well as quick disposal of stormwater from roads.

Lahore Development Authority has urged the residents of its schemes’ area for voluntarily eliminating all encroachments without further delay, failing which they will have to bear the demolition charges as well.

Islamabad: Construction projects on Margallas feared to harm nature

Islamabad: Planned construction projects in the popular hilly areas of Margalla Hills National Park may badly affect the natural character of the environment, which is one of the main features of the capital city.

Popularity of a food outlet constructed at Pir Sohawa sometime back was a success story, which prompted other investors to go for such projects, keeping in view the growing interest of the local visitors.

President Margalla Hills Society Roedad Khan claimed that the existing laws do not allow the construction of hotels, motels, villas or food outlets in the areas, designated as National Park in 1980. He said the people living in the areas of the National Park, having their own lands, could not be relocated unless they are provided with alternative options that are acceptable to them. “But under the existing laws, no one can even root out a single tree or shift a stone to another place from its original location,” he said.

Margalla Hills National Park comprises Margalla Range (12,605 ha), Rawal Lake, and Shakarparian Sports & Cultural Complex. The hill range stands at an elevation of 685 metres at the western end and 1,604 metres on its east. The rock formations are 40 million years old, and fossils of marine life abound everywhere, bearing eloquent testimony that Margalla Hills were at one time under the sea.

Roedad Khan said the threat of stone crushing has been minimised to a great extent after a consistent struggle but feared that ‘anti-environment’ forces would continue to give a tough time to the environment-loving people of the city. He said the local people, also comprising students from schools and colleges, staged protest campaigns that resulted in an end to stone crushing in Shahdara, Kalinjar, Sinyari and Shah Allah Ditta valleys. Now, he said, there is only one spot near the Nicholson Monument where stone crushing still continues, “But we are waiting for the verdict, as the case is pending with the court of law,” he said.

He appreciated the efforts of providing the facility of gas cylinders to the local people living in the National Park area, saying it would help reduce the cutting of trees, especially in the winter season.

Roedad said he has been wandering through the trails but never ever saw any forest guard despite the fact that these people are appointed by the concerned authorities to keep vigil over the activities in the National Park.

Referring to the proposed Margalla Tunnel project, he said it is highly appreciable that Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi formally stated on the floor of the House that he would oppose this project, as it might cause damage to the city’s natural environment. “I have brought the issue to the notice of the parliamentarians and even have been trying to meet Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in this respect,” he said.

The government has declared 2009 as the year of environment and there must be visible efforts to protect the natural beauty at any cost. Roedad said the Margalla Hills Society would hold a tree plantation campaign on February 28 in coordination with local non-governmental organisations and educational institutions to plant thousands of saplings in the National Park.

Karachi: Residents of DHA, Clifton fear reverse discrimination by KESC

Residents of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton have claimed that any drive initiated by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to increase revenues from their areas would not only prove counterproductive but also generate a hostile reaction from power consumers, who are already undergoing adverse electric supply and billing situation.

Defence Residents’ Society (DRS) President, Zafar Iqbal, said that the KESC’s move to increase its revenue-base from DHA and Clifton would ultimately be perceived by affected power consumers as harassment against them simply because of their affluent social status. Concerned DHA and Clifton residents meanwhile also said that KESC should have adopted measures to improve the adverse power supply and billing situation in their localities prior to having introduced any revenue-boosting scheme. It is worth remembering that the KESC has set up a special “Umeed Zone” to maximise revenue generation from Defence and Clifton.

Iqbal contended that resources and efforts should be focused upon the due improvement and upgradation of overloaded and obsolete systems of electricity transmission and distribution, that were also used to serve the power needs of the DHA.

Residents claimed that the KESC management had conceived the revenue generation scheme at a time when the power and water supply situation in these areas has considerably deteriorated. Many said that the situation was such that affected consumers hardly found any relief, despite living in the ‘posh’ and ‘privileged’ localities of the city.

In response to complaints that influential residents of the area are involved in electricity theft, residents responded that strong political will and support is needed to identify and target such cases, and that stern action should be taken against such unscrupulous power consumers without showing any concessions.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Sindh leader and resident of DHA, Saleem Zia, said that any hope to increase the revenue base by the power utility in the current dismal scenario of electric supply is “a fantasy on the part of the KESC authorities.”

DRS President Zafar Iqbal told of him own plight: “For last two to three days my home in DHA Phase-V at Khayaban-e-Ghazi has been subjected to prolonged disruption in power supply, lasting from 10a.m. till 7 p.m., and prior to this, multiple spells of load shedding had been taking place in the area. The power situation is not so normal and regulated that the KESC can go for any special billing drive in Defence,” Iqbal added.

Secretary of the Association of Defence Residents (ADR), Asad Qazalbash, said that complaints of over-billing due to faulty electricity metres are rampant amongst Defence residents. He added that there is no need for a special bill recovery campaign in the area, given that the KESC is prompt at penalising defaulting power consumers by disconnecting power supply to their homes and offices. Qazalbash believed that the highly deteriorated power situation had proven that the present management of KESC has no competence, ability and experience to run the power utility in an efficient and consumer-friendly manner.

Qudsia Qadri, a resident of Clifton Block-4, said that the highly disturbed power supply situation in her locality strongly pointed towards the fact that the KESC had not carried out due improvement or upgradation of its transmission and distribution networks, including those covering DHA and Clifton. She said that she had been charged ten times her regular bill recently, and upon lodging and pursuing her complaint, she discovered that she been charged for an excessive 350 units. She added that during the peak winter season, power consumers in Clifton were subjected to hours-long power outages, while consumers are bracing themselves for a worse situation during the summers.

Karachi: Residents of DHA, Clifton fear reverse discrimination by KESC

Residents of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton have claimed that any drive initiated by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to increase revenues from their areas would not only prove counterproductive but also generate a hostile reaction from power consumers, who are already undergoing adverse electric supply and billing situation.

Defence Residents’ Society (DRS) President, Zafar Iqbal, said that the KESC’s move to increase its revenue-base from DHA and Clifton would ultimately be perceived by affected power consumers as harassment against them simply because of their affluent social status. Concerned DHA and Clifton residents meanwhile also said that KESC should have adopted measures to improve the adverse power supply and billing situation in their localities prior to having introduced any revenue-boosting scheme. It is worth remembering that the KESC has set up a special “Umeed Zone” to maximise revenue generation from Defence and Clifton.

Iqbal contended that resources and efforts should be focused upon the due improvement and upgradation of overloaded and obsolete systems of electricity transmission and distribution, that were also used to serve the power needs of the DHA.

Residents claimed that the KESC management had conceived the revenue generation scheme at a time when the power and water supply situation in these areas has considerably deteriorated. Many said that the situation was such that affected consumers hardly found any relief, despite living in the ‘posh’ and ‘privileged’ localities of the city.

In response to complaints that influential residents of the area are involved in electricity theft, residents responded that strong political will and support is needed to identify and target such cases, and that stern action should be taken against such unscrupulous power consumers without showing any concessions.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Sindh leader and resident of DHA, Saleem Zia, said that any hope to increase the revenue base by the power utility in the current dismal scenario of electric supply is “a fantasy on the part of the KESC authorities.”

DRS President Zafar Iqbal told of him own plight: “For last two to three days my home in DHA Phase-V at Khayaban-e-Ghazi has been subjected to prolonged disruption in power supply, lasting from 10a.m. till 7 p.m., and prior to this, multiple spells of load shedding had been taking place in the area. The power situation is not so normal and regulated that the KESC can go for any special billing drive in Defence,” Iqbal added.

Secretary of the Association of Defence Residents (ADR), Asad Qazalbash, said that complaints of over-billing due to faulty electricity metres are rampant amongst Defence residents. He added that there is no need for a special bill recovery campaign in the area, given that the KESC is prompt at penalising defaulting power consumers by disconnecting power supply to their homes and offices. Qazalbash believed that the highly deteriorated power situation had proven that the present management of KESC has no competence, ability and experience to run the power utility in an efficient and consumer-friendly manner.

Qudsia Qadri, a resident of Clifton Block-4, said that the highly disturbed power supply situation in her locality strongly pointed towards the fact that the KESC had not carried out due improvement or upgradation of its transmission and distribution networks, including those covering DHA and Clifton. She said that she had been charged ten times her regular bill recently, and upon lodging and pursuing her complaint, she discovered that she been charged for an excessive 350 units. She added that during the peak winter season, power consumers in Clifton were subjected to hours-long power outages, while consumers are bracing themselves for a worse situation during the summers.

Railways to build 12 commercial complexes all across country

Pakistan Railways has decided to construct 12 commercial complexes in parts of the country to overcome Rs54 billion losses.

Spokesperson Shagufta Ansari of Pakistan Railways told ‘The News’ here Saturday that Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour is serious to cover the losses of railways for which he has decided to build 12 commercial complexes in various cities including Rawalpindi, Lahore, Kot Lakhput, Karachi, Sukkur, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Peshawar and Khanewal.

The complexes would have all kind of facilities like departmental stores, canteens, cafeterias, tuck shops, bookstalls and marketing centres like airports. The railway has invited the private entrepreneurs to join hands with it to implement the project. According to the plan, the railway would provide a sizeable portion of the stations to the private parties on lease for opening business centres by constructing complexes. The private parties would be paying fees of the land and business share to railway to enable it to cover the losses.

The minister also wanted to increase freight business. Under this plan incentives would be provided to businessmen. The delivery system of the goods would be improved to restore the confidence of the people particularly the traders, she said.

The railway that suffered huge losses due to destructions made by the angry mobs on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is paying special attention on the purchase and revamping of locomotives

She said that some of the trains are running fast to the much satisfaction of the passengers. The trains running from Rawalpindi to Karachi are providing good services to the people.